Alan Seeger
June 22, 1888–July 4, 1916
Born New York City. Moved with family to Mexico in 1900. Sent to Hackley School in 1902; in 1906 entered Harvard. Became an editor of the Harvard Monthly, where he published many poems. Went to live in Paris in 1912. After war broke out in 1914, enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. Mortally wounded during attack on Belloy-en-Santerre; awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire. Poems (1916) published posthumously.
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair. " "I Have a rendezvous with Death," 1916
Image credit: Sheet music, I have a rendezvous with Death, George Clifford Vieh, composer. Alan Seeger, lyrics. 1918 (Library of Congress)
Image credit: Somme. Troupe transport on the way to the front. (National Archives and Records Administration)
For more information, please contact:
Project Director
Max Rudin, Publisher
Library of America
Humanities Advisors
Jennifer D. Keene
Chapman University
Edward G. Lengel
University of Virginia
Michael S. Neiberg
United States Army War College
Chad Williams
Brandeis University
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